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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How can an observer tell if a communal ceremony is only for the men of the village?
(a) The titled men and elders sit on stools while the women look on from the fringe like outsiders.
(b) There are guards stationed around the communal ceremony, preventing the women from viewing.
(c) There are no women present anywhere near the ceremony.
(d) The women gather away from the ceremony, and chat with one another.

2. What is the one passion that rules Okonkwo's life?
(a) To be affluent in money, wives, and children.
(b) To make sure his barn was always filled with yams.
(c) To hate everything his father loved.
(d) To obtain more wealth than anyone else in Umuofia.

3. The punishment for breaking the sacred peace changes through the years. What happened to a man that broke the Week of Peace in the past?
(a) He was dragged on the ground through the village until dead.
(b) He was exiled from Umuofia, considered to be dead to all the clan.
(c) He was hanged in the marketplace for all to see.
(d) He was tied in the village marketplace and each member of the clan spat on him.

4. What are the crops that are considered women's crops by the people of Umuofia?
(a) Coco-yams, beans, cassava
(b) Palms, bitter-leaf, foo foo
(c) Yams, kola nuts, greens
(d) Gourds, bananas, oil bean

5. When Okonkwo was a boy, his father, Unoka, consults Agbala, the Oracle of the Hills, about why his crops always fail.. What reply did the Oracle give?
(a) That Unoka has offended the gods and that is why his crop fail.
(b) That he should stay home and offer sacrifices to the gods.
(c) That he angers his ancestors and they plague his land.
(d) That Unoka sows his yams on exhausted land rather than making the effort to clear new land.

6. What are the women's duties after the yams are planted?
(a) They make bamboo woven hats for the farmers working in the hot sun.
(b) They plant kola nuts between the yams, and weed the yams every day.
(c) They make meals for the men working in the fields.
(d) They plant maize, melons, and beans between the mounds. They also weeded the farm three times per planting season.

7. Who is the priestess of Agbala, the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves, in real life?
(a) Anasi, Okonkwo's first wife
(b) Chielo, a widow with two children
(c) Noywe's mother
(d) Ekwefi, the second wife of Okonkwo

8. What does every man and his family do after the Week of Peace?
(a) Cuts bush to make new farms, burns the bush and flies kites over the burning fields.
(b) Has a feast to celebrate with each other.
(c) Plays flutes, dances and sings before planting the crops.
(d) Gathers in the marketplace to visit with neighbors.

9. When is the only time that Unkona is not haggard and mournful?
(a) When providing food for his wife and children.
(b) When fighting for his village against the village of Mbaino.
(c) When drinking and playing his flute.
(d) After paying off his debts.

10. How does eighteen-year-old, Okonkwo, bring honor to his village?
(a) He plays his flute in the village after the harvest.
(b) He has no patience with unsuccessful men.
(c) He throws the great wrestler, Amalinze the Cat.
(d) He has a barn full of yams.

11. Why do men and women look forward to the Feast of the New Yam?
(a) It is a feast of yam stew made from all the leftover yams of the past harvest, which is divided among all the people.
(b) It is the beginning of the season of plenty--the new year. It begins with huge quantities of fresh yams, yam foo foo and vegetable soup.
(c) It is a festival of dancing around the new yams of the season and eating the rest of the old yams for the previous year.
(d) The men and women cook and feed each other the yams from the previous harvest so that no food will be wasted.

12. What does Okagbue, the medicine man, dig up from under the orange tree that makes the people of the village believe that Ezinma will live to adulthood?
(a) A sacred amulet that the priestess made for Ezinma the day she was born. Ezinma was to wear it around her neck until the day she died.
(b) A basket of kola nuts which were buried when Ezinma was born to trapped evil spirits. It was supposed to be dug up after a time and burned, so the evil spirits would not kill Ezinma.
(c) The cloth which was used to clean Ezinma after she was born. It was buried after the birth as a good luck charm that would keep the infant safe from harm. After digging it up, the child was to be washed with it once again to stay safe.
(d) Ezinma's iyi-uwa, a smooth pebble wrapped in a dirty rag which links Ezinma to the spirit world. It is believed that if the iyi-uwa is found and destroyed, Ezinma will not die.

13. What is the decision of the egwugwu after hearing the case for Mgbafo's family against Uzowulu?
(a) Uzowulu is warned never to beat a woman again or he will be mutilated.
(b) The bride-price is to be returned to Uzowulu.
(c) Uzowulu is to bring a pot of wine to Mgbafo's family and beg that his wife be returned to him. Mgbafo's family is to return her to Uzowulu when he brings the wine to them.
(d) The bride-price is not to be paid back to Uzowulu.

14. What does the priestess do when she brings Ezinma out of Agbala's cave?
(a) She comes out of the cave alone, telling Okonkwo and Ekwefi that Ezinma has to remain in the cave for two days and nights.
(b) She comes out of the cave, giving Okonkwo and Ekwefi a lock of Ezinma's hair. She tells them to bury it in the yam field.
(c) She doesn't say a word to Okonkwo or Ekwefi, but carries Ezinma back to Okonkwo's compound and places Ezinma in bed.
(d) She comes out of the cave and tells Okonkwo and Ekwefi that Agbala wants them to leave, or Ezinma will be sacrificed.

15. Okonkwo's friend, Obierika, is celebrating his daughter's uri. Why does this day put the entire neighborhood into a festive air?
(a) It is the day his daughter will practice for the wedding ceremony, followed by a celebration.
(b) It is the day his daughter's suitor will pay the bride-price and everyone will celebrate.
(c) It is the day when his daughter's suitor brings palm-wine to her parents and her entire group of kinsmen, umunna. Everyone is invited, but the central figures are the bride and her mother.
(d) It is the day his daughtor's suitor brings the whole neighborhood to see the hut where he and his bride will be living.

Short Answer Questions

1. One night, the storytelling of Okonkwo 's wives and children stops because the priestess, Chielo is shouting in a high-pitched voice. What does she tell Okonkwo?

2. How long is Ikemenfuna in Okonkwo's care?

3. During the rainy season, how do the people of the village pass the time?

4. Nwoye's mother calls Ezinma "Ezigbo" when she brings the fire to Nwoye's mother's hut. What does "Ezigbo" mean?

5. Why doesn't Okonkwo have any patience with his father?

(see the answer keys)

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